The problem with most approaches to marketing automation in B2B settings is that we’ve completely ignored the complexity and centrality of sales interactions to the B2B sales process. Marketing Sherpa released a study earlier this year in which they noted that the average B2B purchase involved 21 people on the buyer’s side. Booz Allen and the American Marketing Association have done very thorough research on the primacy of sales executives in customer minds. According to them, 60-70% of all perceptions are driven by the sales exec, and those human interactions are BY FAR the most important customer experiences that customer’s have with B2B firms. Wow, have you ever heard a “marketing automaton” mention that?

I just read an article (see it here) that claims sales people shouldn’t be blogging, that it isn’t a productive use of their time. But at the same time, the author claims that these same sales people should be active participants in social media – which I agree with.  I have a hard time squaring [...]

I saw some investment research recently that shockingly noted how many current Android users were planning on buying an iPhone when they next purchased a smart-phone. Well over 50% would move away from the Android whereas somewhere around 90% of current iPhone users will buy another iPhone. That’s devastating for Google and I think the [...]

I recently heard tell of a Fortune 1000 company with a sales force in the tens of thousands that discovered its sales representatives were spending too much time in low potential accounts. It is a “repeat” business, and the sales force was spending most of their efforts on either the big buyers of their products [...]